How Draco Found Out (Realization)
by IntendedMistake
Summary: "I know!" he exclaimed. "It's because I brought you here to meet my parents. It's basically marriage in an ancient place like this. And I bet that fact that you are in charge of Spew makes you lovable." It's S.P.E.W" was the only reply she could give. Thank god men are daft.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

* * *

"I promise they'll behave."

He said when he saw his girlfriend fidgeting nervously.

"Oh, I'm not worried about them," she replied, although she had that uneasiness in her voice and face.

"But?"

"No buts. Let's just go in. I bet they're waiting for us. We wouldn't want them to give more reasons to hate me, do we?"

He protested at her comment, "They don't hate you."

She snorted in a very unlady-like way. "Yeah, right. Long lines and decades of pureness just to be tainted by me.

_Well, they can't do anything about that now, do they? _She thought bitterly.

"Hey, we dropped that attitude after the War, and if that didn't help, we sure did after Father came back from Azkaban and you helped us restore the Malfoy name."

"I know, I know." She said with a pretend annoyance, despite her nervousness in her eyes.

He chuckled at her reply. "Well, you never stopped being a know-it-all." He teased, only to be followed by silence.

_That can't be good._ He thought.

"You sure you're all right."

"Yes. Just knock on the door, would you?"  
At that he grinned. "We don't have to." When her eyes quirked he said "because you have me." He said proudly.

"Ever the arrogant Malfoy." she muttered quietly as the door opened.

"Said something?"

"No, no, lead the way."

* * *

They entered the Manor while Malfoy sauntered with his particular confidence that could only be explained as an attitude because he was entering his lair. His walks were compared to his girlfriend's for she was walking timidly behind him lost in her thoughts.

_I wonder what he'll say…_

She thought as she watched him walk in front of her.

_He walks as if he owns this place…which he does, I guess. He never entered the Burrow this way. He was downright coward._

She chuckled at her memory, which was soon interrupted by a small tug on her leg.

"Mistress Hermione come to see Nooni?" a house elf asked with a hopeful eye.

Malfoy turned to look at his house elf's arrival while Hermione answered while staring at Malfoy searching for help, "Oh! err...no...um.."

"Um.. Hermione is here to meet my parents. Could you please tell us where they are?"

"No! Nooni will only follows Mistress Hermione! No! No! No!" and started to bang her head on the floor.

Hermione was surprised at her reaction and frantically said "It's okay! It's okay! He probably knows where they are! You can stop that! Please!"

Nooni immediately stopped that banging. "Do Mistress wants Nooni lead the way?"

Hermione who was still distressed by the fact that she had caused a house elf to hit herself replied, "No, no, that won't be necessary. We'll go by ourselves. I wanted to look around this place anyways," and quickly added "I'll call you when I need you." when Nooni's smile fell at the rejection.

Hermione stared at her boyfriend. "Draco, what is wrong with her? What have I done? Did I do something wrong already? _I only stepped into your house!_"

"Um...Not so sure...Nooni is the head elf for serving Lady Malfoy and only Lady Malfoy. She's probably the only one among the elves in this Manor that can refuse to listen to Father. Her ownership solely, strictly, and magically belongs to the wives only."

When Hermione looked at him with disbelief, he added, "Mind you I freed all of them after the War, though they stayed loyal. They can act on free will, so she can say no to my request but that never happened. So I'm pretty much lost like you are. I wonder why…"

Suddenly Hermione was hit by a realization.

_I knew house elves' magic are strong, but never knew this strong. That can't be true…_

"Do you know how the wives gain ownership?" she asked quietly while praying please be wrong for the first time.

"Usually by marriage, and in rare cases even before when the wife-to-be becomes pregnant with the Malfoy heir." Draco looked at her after finishing and beamed, while Hermione paled.

_Damn my knowledge. And why is he beaming? Did he figure it out?!_

"I know!" he exclaimed. "It's because I brought you here to meet my parents. It's basically marriage in an ancient place like this. No girlfriends have visited this place before marrying so the house elves may have thought that you were going to be my wife. And I bet that fact that you are in charge of Spew makes them love you more." He teased.

"It's S.P.E.W." was the only reply she could give.

_Thank god men are daft._

* * *

"Mother, Father. This is Hermione Granger," He said proudly, though he had some kind of uneasiness as he looked around at the surroundings.

_Why did we have to use this place as the dining place?! And why haven't I thought to change it before?!_

He mentally berated himself for being an insensitive prat.

"Miss Granger, it's so nice to see you after all this time." said Narcissa Malfoy before hugging her.

Hermione was only able to squeak, "Mrs. Malfoy."

"Oh, it's Narcissa, darling. Mrs. Malfoy always made me feel old." Narcissa said after releasing her from the hug.

"Cissy, please, you are still Mrs. Malfoy, and you are embarrassing yourself in front of you son and his girlfriend." said Lucius Malfoy with an eye roll. He greeted her with a short "Miss Granger" and a handshake.

"Mr. Malfoy."

"It is nice to see you again in a much pleasant time." said Lucius Malfoy as he let go of his hand.

"Likewise." was the only response she could give.

"Come on, I'm starving!"

Draco exclaimed trying to ease the awkwardness and they all settled down at the dining table.

* * *

The uneasiness at the table did not go away since they all had a mind of their own. Only when Narcissa couldn't handle it anymore, she started to ask questions.

"So, Hermione, what do you do?"

"Mum!" "Cissa!"

The two Malfoys exclaimed at the same time, appalled by her blunt question.

"What? I'm trying to start a conversation, while you two are fidgeting the salad with your forks!"

"Malfoys do _not fidget_!" Father and son again replied at the same time.

Hermione had to laugh. "That was not the case when you visited the Burrow." She said through her laughs, which made Draco blush and Lucius glare at his son.

"Besides, I'm not offended by her question. I work as a Healer, but I do more research than the actual healing, so I spend much of my time in the Research Department. In fact, that's where I met Draco."

"Oh! Do tell!" Narcissa squealed, while Lucius groaned at his wife's behavior.

"Well, it was when I was looking for a book related to a disease I was working on. When I found it, it was far out of my reach so I was struggling to get it. Which is when a hand towered over mind and handed me the book."

"That would be Draco, I assume."

Hermione chuckled, while Draco scowled. "No, actually he was a perverted bloke who tried to grope me while handing the book. Draco was passing by and saved me from the prat, though I could have hexed him without your son's help."

She was evidently teasing because she had a look of gratefulness in her eyes that all three Malfoys could see.

"I never believed my son to have a trait of a Gryffindor." Lucius said with humor in his eyes.

"Well, in all honesty, I did stalk her."

"You did _not_!" Hermione exclaimed, while Lucius laughed and simply said, "That's my son I know and raised."

* * *

As they were enjoying themselves, with the awkwardness all gone, the plates for the dinner arrived. The smell of the steak was delicious to everyone except one.

"I told them to prepare for your favorites." He looked at her expectedly for a compliment, but frowned when he noticed her unusual paleness in her eyes. "Is everything okay?"

"What? Yes, yes. Everything's alright."

Which was very unconvincing as she looked in a verge of a panic attack, making all three Malfoys concentrate.

Hermione, oblivious to the attention, tried to focus on swallowing the offensive meat while chanting to herself,

_I can do this. I can do this. I can- oh, hell who am I kidding._

"I need to go to the toilet!" she shouted while bursting out of her chair. She was about to run to the door when Nooni appeared in front of her.

"Nooni brought the bucket!"

Hermione looked at her, confused, asked, "Nooni, why would you bring-Oh!"

The purpose of the bucket hit her when she had to clutch the bucket and empty her stomach.

_I did not just do that in front of his parents_.

She was mortified. She could not face him. And She hadn't even told him yet! She was searching for an explanation for her behavior when her boyfriend shouted,

"This is all your fault!"

Now that made her really confused Why would her behavior be Narcissa and Lucius's fault? And why was he patting her back comfortingly?

"It's okay. It's okay." he said soothingly.

"Why is this their fault?" She asked Draco quietly.

Now it was Draco's turn to be confused, though he answered, "This is the room, you know…."

"The room?"

And she made the mistake of looking at the surroundings. The floor, the walls, the sculptures. Sure the design had changed a lot since she was last here, but there were some left, like blood stains here and there when looked closely. And this made her clutch the bucket once more.

"Wait, you didn't know?"

She just nodded.

"Then why did you...? Are you sick?! Should we go home?"

"No, I'm not sick, not technically, I guess."

"You _guess_?"

At her comment, Narcissa gasped a small _oh_, as a realization dawned her. And she simply beamed and told Nooni,

"Well, I guess this means goodbye."

"Mistress Narcissa, Nooni never leaves. Nooni is caring Mistress Hermione more."

Narcissa smiled at her soon to be former house elf, "That is why it's a goodbye. You need to take care of Hermione more from now on."

Lucius was getting impatient. Even though Nooni served the wives only, she still was Malfoy property (though his son freed them all, so he had no ownership anyway). "Cissy, why are you saying goodbye? Why would you let- oh." He smiled at his son (which just made Draco more perplex) as he started to figure it out. He was happy for them and their future.

"I'm sorry." Hermione said to Narcissa and Lucius.

"Nonsense, I'm glad Draco met you, someone who makes him laugh." said Narcissa.

"So am I. We are happy for you, though I believe Draco doesn't know."

Draco was getting more and more confused as he started to get a feeling that he was the only person in the room not to know what was going on.

"Tell me. What is it? Why would Mother say goodbye to Nooni?"

Nooni spoke, "Nooni is serving Mistress Hermione. Mistress Hermione is-"

"No, Nooni, I'll talk." and after taking deep breaths, she said, "I'm pregnant."

Draco was expecting a lot of things from good to bad, but not this. He was visibly shocked, so Hermione wondered if she did the wrong thing to tell him. But her doubts were soon gone as he hugged her fiercely.

"I love you so much!"

* * *

**AN: This was not supposed to be this long..**

**Reviews are always welcomed! They boost my confidence to write more! =)**


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